Operation: Melting Point
by RobertFiddler
Summary: The young and talented rabbit army officer Judy Hopps, Lieutenant of Spryfeet Armored Platoon is tasked with an impossible mission. Her squad has to save the federation from a seemingly unstoppable invading force, the National Army of Pigs. Their only option might be to outsmart the enemy with help coming from the most unexpected place. (Crossover with RTS game, S.W.I.N.E)
1. Prologue & Chapter 1

**Prologue**

On the 26th of July the Republic of Pigs was overthrown by a military coup. During the celebration on 1st of August General Iron Tusk, leader of the National Army of Pigs, made the following speech to his nations:

"Why are there populations on this planet… who have more carrots than we do? Why is their land bigger and more productive… than our own? WHO GAVE THEM THE RIGHT?! I ask… Why shouldn't we have carrot fields and corn fields too? If we do not become a productive country NOW, coming generations will find out what HUNGER is! Millions of pigs work their hooves to the bone in our factories to earn their daily bread! How could I sleep at night if I didn't help them in their struggle? The republic of the EXPLOITERS has ended ONCE and for ALL! We are poised… at the gateway… to a brave new world"

On 3rd of August, the N.A.P crosses the eastern border of its neighbor rabbit federation, Carrotland. In less than 2 weeks they burn their way through the country, straight to the capital city, which they're currently holding under blockade. The unprepared rabbit army has been decimated. Weakened and outgunned their forces have no hope to confront the aggressors in a frontal assault. The neighbor countries, still perplexed from the unfolding situation, are taking several diplomatic sanctions against Iron Tusk, but refuse to intervene in the fights. The High Command and the government knowing that they can't expect outside help in the war, and can't beat the pigs in a frontal assault has reached the conclusion that they have to put their focus on subterfuge…

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Desperate times**

Judy opened her eyes to the star spotted dark blue sky. As she slowly came to the realization that she indeed is awake, she sat up to have a look around the camp. Three of his men were still asleep around the peacefully smoldering place of the campfire, but she couldn't tell which ones because of the dark. Nearby stood the dark silhouette of two large vehicles… Well, large for a rabbit, the pigs often made fun of them, calling them "toys"… and a third one a little further away that was busily worked on by two rabbits with the help of their flashlights. That left two more who were probably patrolling or standing guard somewhere. She wasn't sure whose turn it was to take care of that duty... But for the first time in the past two weeks she didn't care.

She tenderly caressed the dream that she woke from. She was back at her parent's farm, with all her little brothers and sisters. There it was again, the feel of worry as a few drop of tear began coloring the fur on her cheeks. She grabbed one of her long ears and wiped them away with it. While most of her family, her mother and younger siblings were safe and sound as refugees in Zootopia, she had some of them out there, fighting. 2 of them right under her command. Will she be able to lead them through this war alive? Or will they end up like the squad of the tank that got destroyed yesterday… She couldn't allow herself to worry about that, she had to focus at the task at paw. They had to get back to the rendezvous point.

"Lieutenant." she turned towards the playful voice to see a creme furred rabbit emerge from the dense tree line. "Can't sleep?"  
Judy stood up and gave a slight nod to the approaching soldier.  
"Can't say I blame you ma'am…" he said looking around the camp.  
"Told you to stop with the formalities Boyd"  
"Can't do ma'am. It's to remind me that you are no longer just my sweet lil' sister that I can argue with." he replied with a smirk.  
It annoyed her, but at the same time, it filled her with pride. His brothers, Boys included, were pretty hot headed bunch. Brave, but unable to think two steps ahead. That's why they always ended up in trouble in town, like the pub fights, that was followed by her picking them up from the sheriff's office. She was different, a problem solver, the one who always did things the smart way. Her brothers looked up to her for that, calling her the brain of "the gang". It wasn't normal that an older sibling would admit its flaws and praise the things the younger one is better at. She felt lucky because of that. She wanted to use her wits to help them.  
"It still would be nice to have a brother now instead of a subordinate…" she murmured under her nose.  
Boyd nodded and gave a warm smile "It will be alright lil' sis. We will pull through this." she returned the gesture.

"So what's the sitrep?"  
"Franklin and Harold will soon finish fixing up JollyRoger. The engine is nearly functional, but the turret took a bad hit, they stripped some of the plating from the shot out 'Pig Bull' tank and plan to cover up the hole."  
Judy looked to the side again, seeing the two rabbits busily working on the engine of the light tank, listening to their muffled conversation that echoed off with a metallic tone from the walls of the engine bay.  
"Good, let me know when we are ready to roll out."

* * *

"NICK!"  
"huw-WHAT?!" the fox woke up in the passenger seat and looked around in terror to see if there is any danger he should be aware of. There was nothing outside but darkness and the few meters of the old concrete road that their headlights lit up for them. Oh, and a few meters beyond that in the dark the two red lights that indicated the little rabbit vehicle that they were told to follow. Having assessed that there is nothing that would possibly mean his violent and imminent death, his attention turned to the small fennec fox in the driving seat.  
"You're up?" he smirked while looking at the road.  
"You really woke me up, to ask me that?" Nick narrowed his eyes.  
"Yepp!" Finnick took a quick look at him then turned back to watch the road. "But since you're awake answer me this, where the hell is he leading us?"  
"I told you, we were told to follow him to that armored platoon."  
"Yeah" A vixen's playful voice came from behind Nick "just follow the white rabbit Alice!"  
"What's that, some kind of reference to a song or something?" the small fox grinned back at her.  
"Don't tell me, you don't even know this one! Finnick, you are so uncult…" she started to growl, but was halted by Nick.  
"Calm down Skye, he is just messing with you" he turned around to take a look at the rest of the team, only to see that beside Skye, their chubby fourth friend was sleeping like a log under a blanket.

"Okay, but we've been following him for 4 hours, do you think he is lost?" he turned again to look at Nick and raised a paw off the wheel to point at the car in front of them. "How does he even know where he has to go?"  
Nick looked to the two red lights that they were following in the night. "The rabbits are using hit and run tactics, 'Guerrilla warfare' but with tanks. After a mission they retreat to the nearest 'safezone', where they are covered by their artillery and can retreat further back without the risk of getting surrounded by pigs. We look for a platoon that took out a pig outpost on the west and have orders to return to the capital. " Nick took a deep breath, seemingly considering whenever his logic will be sound. "So, I assume he calculated how far they got since they reported their mission done, and matched it up with the locations he would choose to set up a camp for an armored platoon."

Finnick seemed to be… well not pleased with the answer, but found it satisfactory for the moment. A few silent minutes passed before he said anything again with a softer tone.  
"How is 'Chubby' doing back there? Doesn't he have anything to say now?"  
"He's sleeping." she replied "I haven't seen him so… peaceful since the war broke out".  
Nick nodded "Let him rest then, we still have time till we arrive."

* * *

For the next few hours she listened to the radio while leaning over a bunch of maps, laid out on the hood of their small commanding vehicle. She carefully planned their route, and altered it on every bit of information she could get her paws on. They lost a tank with its entire crew already. She had no intention to let anyone else die. The sky slowly brightened, and although the sun still hid its face behind the distant mountains. It already colored the east into a rose-like color. The rest of the platoon also woke up, and everyone, without having to be told, started to prepare their vehicles for the trip.

Her concentration was suddenly broken, when a radio call came in, but through her small personal radio.  
"Benny here, I got two vehicles incoming from the north a friendly command car and… a L.A.V of unknown design. Over."  
"Is he being chased? Should we prepare a trap? Over."  
At the start of the war, rabbits were always paranoid and wasted a lot of time with codes and passwords to indentify each other on the battlefield. That was only till the realization sunk in that pigs were too big to fit into the tanks and military vehicles of the rabbits. That was one of the perks of fighting a larger foe. Another was that their large size made the pig soldiers deluded. As "dumb" some considered rabbits, they were at least not as stupid to feel themselves unstoppable even in a simple armored car with an LMG mounted on top. It became a common tactic to lure glory hungry pigs into traps. Judy was ready to signal his men to position to confront the incoming tank, her muscles tensed up as she waited for the answer from the small radio in her paw.  
"Negative, they are both friendlies. The buck is sent by High Command. Over. "  
"Got it, let him through. Over." She slammed the radio down in relief, and turned her attention to clearing on the north.

Soon subtle humming of engines could be heard from the distance and a car, similar to hers showed up, with the exception of the color. Judy's as the bulk of the RABARMY vehicles and their tanks was yellow, this one was closer to be lime. Not far behind it an orange vehicle showed up. It looked like a pickup truck that someone armor-plated in their garage, slapped a tank turret on the back and called it a day. And it was large, not designed for rabbits, captured pigs vehicle maybe. But the color was off, they didn't use this color. It was an absurd thing to look at as it pulled up next to the rabbit tank that was roughly the same size.

From the car a male rabbit got out wearing the dark formal uniform that created a weird contrast with his very bright white fur. He swiftly ran up to Judy and saluted as did she.  
"Lieutenant Judy Hopps, Spryfeet Armored Platoon!" she exclaimed.  
"Agent Jack, I brought a message from Secret Intelligence. You have a new mission." The buck then held out an envelope, with a big red text reading "CONFIDENTIAL".  
Judy looked at it in shock for a moment. "I was told you were from High Command, I didn't know we had a Secret Intelligence…"  
"We have since yesterday. War calls for desperate measures."  
She held the important looking paper with fear. She was only in the army since the war broke out. Sure, she climbed ranks quickly, but that wouldn't be hard when officers drop like flies all around her. All she ever did was trying to save her platoon, and sometimes they came out in top of the fight as a result. Would that qualify someone for something like this? She prepared to open it, only to held up, and have it pushed closer to her.  
"Wait till I leave, I can't know what's inside, safety protocol. That said, I'm leaving, get familiar with your new…. soldiers, Lieutenant."

At that moment the front door of the large orange machination opened. That's when she noticed the symbol painted on the door, it was fox head. From inside a small, crème furred fox emerged with a large, taller red fox behind him. From the rear seat another creamy furred fox, a vixen jumped out. They were standing around the car, while her platoon watched the new arrivals with awe. The white rabbit, hurried up to meet the vixen. They held paws. Judy couldn't make out what they were talking about, but the conversation ended with a hug. The buck looked back at Judy with pain in his eyes. She understood that look. 'Please don't let her die' she felt him thinking and answered with a nod.

With that, he turned around and got back into his car. The tall fox leaned to front of their vehicle and looked directly at her, seemingly waiting for HER to come to him. Judy looked down at the cover, reading the red text over and over again, trying to comprehend the situation. Before she knew it the car's engine hummed in the distance giving her no chance to ask any questions from the hurrying white rabbit. She looked up at the foxes again. Which one first? Learn who these foxes are from them? Or should she open the case first? They could consider it impolite of her to just stand there and read… then again they did not bother to show any intention to come up and introduce themselves either. After realizing that staring at the problem won't solve it, she took a deep breath and opened it. She silently read it, as some of her men started to gather around her with a confused look. After finishing she looked up to meet the face of her third Sergeant.  
"Is everything alright, Ma'am? Who are these foxes?"  
She looked at their direction, where the two males had seemingly started an argument about something.  
"Well Harold, I got one good news and two bad news. Good news, we got reinforcements... and bad news, it's only them, a gang of fox mercenaries."  
Worry started take over his face, as he slowly turned his head to watch the pair of foxes with the corner of his eye. Their argument became more heated by the second, wildly gesturing with their paws and frowning at each other, but both remained at the level of whispering.  
"And the second bad news…"  
He turned back in shock. Them being the only help they got and being mercenaries wasn't two bad news already?  
"…we are ordered to go behind enemy lines."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2: The board is set…  
**_  
Nick leaned next to the hood of their armored car, looking at the bunny officer who just exchanged some words with Jack. She looked up from the documents and their eyes met. Eyes of lavender looked directly into his. He could see the confusion and surprise in them. He was sure about it that she was still under the shock of the discovery that foxes will be her new "soldiers". She turned back and opened the envelope just as Finnick walked up to him.  
"Nick, let's get the fuck out of here" he whispered, which made Nick look down at him. It didn't take much for anyone to notice how nervous he was.  
"What's the big deal buddy? You are supposed to be our BIG, TOUGH…"  
"I don't want NONE of your jokes right now" he hissed "We were told we are going to assist an armored Platoon. A PLATOON, NICK! Look around! Does this look like a platoon to you?"  
Nick looked up and had to agree, it did look a little… lean.

Armored platoons traditionally suppose to have 4 or 5 tanks or some other kind of armored vehicles. And rabbit tanks aren't that tough to begin with, they were exactly the same size as their homebuilt light armored vehicle that once was a simple pickup. They only had one of those and the remaining 3 vehicles hardly even qualified as armored. 2 were scouting vehicles with miniguns as turrets, and the last was a light armored buggy, obviously serving as the mobile commanding centre for the officer. He looked back at her, slowly getting surrounded by a bunch of curious bucks who all gave small but too noticeable stares at the group of foxes.  
"I said I am ready to risk my life NOT that I'm ready to throw it away!" he flailed his arm angrily.  
"Calm down, it's not a lost cause." Nick narrowed his eyes down on the fennec fox. "And we won't go back on a promise."  
"The hell with promises Nick, you know very well that's not why I am here! I want to get paid and I won't be able to enjoy my money from the grave!"  
"I know Finnick!" He bend down to look him in the eye "They said they assign the mission to the platoon with the lowest mortality rate. This is our best shot at this."  
"Our best shot to get killed in a war we have nothing to gain from!"  
"We have more than one reason to be here. " Nick pointed at Sky, who was climbing back to the backseat, seemingly trying to wake up their fourth member.  
Finnick turned away with a groan "And that's why I don't like our odds man. Let's get out of here! All of us!"  
"They won't be coming Finn, you know you can't talk them down, that's why you are here, why WE are here."  
The small fox shuffled closer to the car, jumped on the side-step and promptly sat down without a word.

Nick turned back towards the bunny officer who to his surprise finished with the document and was on her way to him. He straightened up and whistled to get Skye's attention. "How deep can that fatass sleep? Wake him up already!"  
"I'm trying to do it gently, Nick! Nobody likes to be kicked out from bed!" she growled.  
Suddenly a pair of rabbit ears entered Nick's vision. Following them down he met the eyes of the doe they were attached to again. She tried to force a professional, cold expression on her face, but Nick could easily detect a slight hint of concern. She was not used to foxes. They stood there for a few moments, before Nick realized she was waiting for him to open.  
"Ma'am" He lazily saluted and offered a paw to shake. "I'm Nick".  
"Lieutenant Judy Hopps, Spryfeet armored platoon." The little fox snorted and quickly turned his head away to murmur something under his nose.  
"This huge ray of sunshine and joy is Finnick, our driver." he smirked to which his friend just responded with a simple 'fuck you'.  
A crème furred vixen hurried up to shake the paw with Judy "I'm Skye the engineer, our fourth guy is still asleep".

"Fuck him too…" Before anyone could say anything, Finnick pointed his gun to the sky and with a loud bang it made most of the rabbits ears to fall back down for a second, while with a loud grumble and a scared yelp a chubby red fox fell out from the backseat of their LAV. As he got up confused and searching for his gun on his left side, while it was actually holstered in his right, he assessed the situation when looking over the group of rabbit soldiers, slightly chuckling over his clumsiness.  
"Gideon Grey?" a voice had him spin around to come face to face with Judy.  
"Oh, you two know each other?" Skye asked with a wide smile from him.  
"Erm…I-I think… Judy, is that you?" He asked as he brushed off the dust from his pants.  
"Yes, I am." She just stared with open mouth "What are you doing here?"  
Gideon rubbed his neck and "Aw, well… long story. But I'm glad to see you. Small world, amiright?"  
He said and took a step towards her, only to be cut off by her brother with a look in his eyes that could kill.  
"Stand down Boyd." Judy called out. "It is fine. Time heals… most wounds". She tried to ease the situation with a gentle, forgiving smile.  
"Thanks Jude, t-that means a lot." he smiled back. "I-I am not that kind of guy anymore."  
"Haha, Chubby dated a rabbit or something?" Finnick broke out in laughter "Damn, I guess I must try some rabbit for myself too. Must've something if it got all of you guys so ri…"  
"Shut UP, Finnick!" Skye scolded him.  
"We were just… schoolmates who fought a lot" Judy remarked and turned to her team, to introduce them.  
"Sergeant Hoppkins, Corporal Boyd and Private Franklin are the crew of our light tank, the JollyRoger." From the crew of grey furred rabbits Hoppkins stepped out saluted, but Judy's older brother just gave a mean eye to the group of foxes.  
"Sergeant Donna and Private Benny AND Sergeant Harold and Private Binkies are manning the two armored scouting cars, the Nibbles and Thumper. "  
Binkies looked at her sister and saluted to the foxes with his sergeant.

"Now that the formalities are out of the way, we got a task at paw!" Judy started firmly demanding everyone's attention. Normally they shouldn't tell the objective to the whole platoon. The officers knowing it would be enough and would reduce the chance of an enemy capturing and interrogating one of them to compromise the whole plan. But she was confident in her group and the foxes were probably aware of the plan, based on the document. "As I understand, you know our objective, Nick."  
"I had part in coming up with it after all." He smirked confidently, but Judy just raised an eyebrow.  
"There were more than one mercenary groups that wanted this job, and your commanding staff asked each of them what they would do in a certain situation to accomplish a goal, and it turned out I was the only one with an answer that they considered the right one."  
Nick saw there was a bit of confusion in the crowd of rabbits.  
"You see, my main trade is not fighting or weaponry, I am what you would call a con-artist. I am an expert in gaining the confidence of mammals, make them lower their guard, and eventually unburden them from the weight of their hard-earned money."  
Donna signed in annoyance and remarked what a big shocker that was from a fox under her nose.  
"And it just happened to be that these traits are what are needed for this operation. Here is the thing, when you want to gain something from mammals, you practically want them to do what you want them to do. How can you do that?" He spread his arms with a smile.  
"By finding out what they would normally do, get to know them, anticipate their moves, and carefully plan around it, and create a situation, a trap where their natural behavior will work against them without them even noticing it."  
"And what does this have to do with our mission?" The female sergeant asked.  
"Our target is no common military objective." Judy took over with serious tone "It's an animal."

The warm sunlight gently tickled her nose as she woke up in her bed. She lay there looking at her side where a young male pig snored subtly under her blanket. She silently slipped off the bed to get dressed. By the time he woke up, she was in her uniform.  
"Morning, Lieutenant." She said with a soft teasing tone, while looking over him stretching his limbs. Pigs had an interesting biology. The more aggressive lifestyle they lead, the more barbaric they looked like, regressing into their primitive forms. Fur start to cover their pink bodies, tusks start to grow out of their mouths. Was it the adrenalin or the testosterone? Or just something that comes with the thrill of dancing with death on the battlefield? He wasn't like the brutes. He was one of the pigs that stood away from the onslaught of the battlefield. Analyzed, calculated. Just like her. Destroying the rabbit country brought her no joy. But she enjoyed the challenge and it was easy to deal with if she looked at it as a cold and predictable mathematical equation.

He fumbled around in the nightstand seemingly fighting with a strong headache before he finally found his glasses. "What happened?"  
"Well, seemingly we both drank a bit too much last night as we celebrated my latest promotion."  
As memories of the previous night slowly flowed back, a slight worry took over his face. "Ma'am I am…"  
"It's alright Hamilton, It's not like anyone will dare to report something like this of the general's favorite cousin." She walked to the door that lead to her office "Anyway, get dressed and help me finish what we started before we started drinking. This paperwork is killing me."  
She held up some documents, something about Major Fathead… -Wait did she read that right? F-a-t-h-e-a-d… yes. She rolled her eyes - being ordered back to oversee the General's personal security guard. Whatever, she didn't really care. She eyed the half-open door, and the young hog fixing his tie in it.

"Please gather a report on the blockade. I want to know when the rabbit president finally decides to capitulate." She said that but didn't expect it to actually happen anytime soon. The offer was that if they surrender the already occupied east side of the country to the pigs, they will leave the west untouched. The Rabbit goverment was rich already thanks to years of overproduction of grain, metal and oil that they sold for great profit to the less productive countries like The Republic of Pigs. The amount of fields that they would keep after the surrender would be more than enough to feed the population even with the refugees returning to the west side of the country. Logically we could say it was a generous offer if we would just look at the logistics. No more fighting and meaningless death, more than enough resources to rebuilt and start growing financially. But she was no fool. She knew that mammals don't fight over logistics. Mammals fight for pride, for the lands that belonged to them for generations. They did not care whenever they need those lands or not, it was theirs and they were ready to die to get them back. Her objective was clear in her head: she had to find a way to crush their pride. How hard can it be? They are just rabbits.

"Our target is Major-General Swinton." Judy exclaimed with a photo in her paw. "The sole reason we are on the losing side of this war. She is the cousin of General Iron Tusk and the one who oversees every major offensive personally and guarantees their success. She is currently somewhere around the capital in the midst of the pig blockade. "  
"Why is she so important? Will Iron Tusk surrender if we capture her?" Donna asked in disbelief. "I don't think he is the kind of guy that cares for his relatives so much."  
"According to the intel provided by the surviving Pig Republic loyalists, we have a list of her movements and battles. They are the major battles that forced the RABARMY to retreat."  
Skeptical, surprised, confused. Those were the expression Nick could read down from the small crowd of rabbits before Judy continued.  
"In every front, the RABARMY was holding itself, or even beat back the pigs until she arrived to the scene and turned the battle around. The Oilfields of the south, the Mines of the west, the Northern front, we lost all these crucial battles when she arrived and took control of the pig forces fighting there. And so far she hasn't lost once. We can easily say that she is the one leading the pigs to victory, she is the most talented officer that they have."

"So why doesn't the High Command focuses our remaining forces to capture her?" Binkies asked with a raised paw "What can a single platoon do about her?"  
"That's what the other mercenaries suggested too" Nick stood up and looked at the small rabbit. "We were asked what we would do if we had to eliminate an important enemy officer in a frontline. Most answers were to pinpoint her exact location in the blockade and make a quick, fast strike on her location to capture her or take her out."  
He paused and pointed at himself "I, on the other hand answered the question with more questions: 'How would the target react if she would know that we are after her?' and 'Is she smart enough to notice that we are more busy to get to her than fighting her troops?' "  
Nick reached out and asked Judy for the photo of the Major-General.  
"As I have learned from the High command's answers, Swinton is smart, probably the smartest pig in the entire N.A.P. And the most dangerous thing about her is that she knows how smart she is. She knows how important she is. The moment she would notice that the rabbit army is focusing on the units around her position she would run and she made several well fortified outposts to fall back to. We can't get her by going after her. We have to get her to come to us."  
"HAH! Girls! You always have to play the hard to get to actually get their attention!" Finnick crackled up.

"The first phase of the plan is to get behind enemy lines and sabotage their supply lines." Nick continued. "The one we most easily can reach from here are the supply lines between the oil refinery in the mountains of the west and the oil fields of the Gritty Desert. We keep that up until we become a big enough thorn in the side of the pig army that Swinton will feel the need to take care of us personally. And that's when we start phase two, to capture her. "  
"Not bad from a con-fox, Nick!" In her cheer she forgot herself and bumped him in the arm like she mostly did to her brothers. Judy was genuinely surprised. His plan was sound and was the best that they could do with a small group such as theirs. Of course, the high command probably had something to do with it, providing all this information to Nick, but seeing how he memorized the plan, she could tell that he was invested in this fight. He WAS here to help them win.

"I'm sorry, but how do we know, that the Major-General will come after us personally? She could just send someone else to take care of us." Boyd expressed his concern.  
"That might be possible…" Judy sighed, and looked down at the documents. "But since the pigs don't have oil fields in their own country, our oil fields were one of the first things they had to capture and their most crucial resource to keep this war going. If the cause problem there, the whole pig army will feel it! We can't know for sure, but it is our best shot to get her attention."  
She looked up, and looked at the faces of her brothers. She took a deep breath and continued. "Our best shot at turning this war around! To show the pigs that they can't just take whatever they want without regard of the lives they ruin! We will put a stop to it." She turned to Nick and his gang "So, are you guys with us?"  
He looked back at Gideon and Skye, asking for something like a final confirmation of their commitment to this. They nodded. He looked down at Finnick who was still sitting on the side-step of the car. He just shrugged that could be taken as a 'do I have choice?' Nick turned back with smug smile to Judy.  
"Let us know when we move out, Lieutenant."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3: Crossing a bridge**_

"Not gonna work. " Nick said as he leaned next to the hood of Judy's car, while she was scouting with her binoculars.  
They were hidden amongst the trees on a small ridge that was close to their target, a bridge far south to the rabbit capital which the pigs used to transport their fuel and other resupplies for their blockade.  
"We have to go further south and find a less guarded one. There is no way we can get through this." While he groaned Judy just assessed the situation. The bridge was a long metal structure, towering above the deep and fast flowing river that crossed the entire rabbit county and capital. There were a number of buildings around the other side of it where 2 pig tanks stood guard. Rubbish on this side implied that there were buildings and trees there too, but the pigs must've destroyed them, probably to make sure that anyone coming towards the bridge won't have any cover.  
"We can't…" Judy sighed "Reports are that they destroyed every other bridge on this river south of the capital. We have to cross here."  
"Only 'Woopsie' they seem to have thought about the importance of preventing us going behind their lines." Nick stood up, stretched his arms. "We have to get behind them unnoticed, Fluff. Otherwise, the pig army will be on our asses before we get anywhere near the supply-line between the refinery and the oilfields. "  
"You are the one who said it would be quote-on-quote easy to reach that line." She looked at him in annoyance, handing the binoculars to him. "So what was your plan, if not to help us get through their line?"

She glared dagger as he took a look at the distance too. Nick's eyes were naturally better in the dark and could see more detail of what was awaiting them on the other side of the river. The two tanks would've been easy to deal with, but the amount of pigs walking between the buildings indicated that there were more vehicles there that they couldn't see.  
"Oh, I don't know… sneaking through? We foxes prefer it anyway when a plan won't put unnecessary risk at our lives. But maybe bunnies are different. "  
They stood silent there for a while until Judy grabbed Nick's paw to make him lover the spyglass.  
"So why are you here then?"  
"Well, at the moment, I'm here with you alone in the woods because you have to come up with a plan to get us to the other side of that river, and since you don't know me and my team well, I have to take part in the planning."  
"You know what I meant… If you are not ready to put your life down for this then why are you guys here? Why is Gideon here? The money can't be good enough risking your life over. "  
Nick looked at her, but to her surprise the face she saw wasn't of someone not knowing what to answer because of shock. The silence he treated her with was more of what someone too tired to answer would do.

"Why he is here, only he can tell you, I can only talk for myself, Lieutenant. "  
"So why are you, here Nick? And I don't mean 'in this specific moment'! Why are you here risking your life if you don't care for the cause? "  
"I never said I don't care for the cause, Fluff, quite the opposite. " His reply was calm, almost confusingly so, like someone reading up a prewritten text. But Judy waited for him to continue.  
"I am not ready to die exactly because I care. If I die, I can't finish the job. "  
"If any of us die, which I hope won't happen, it's so the rest of the rabbit army can finish the job. In war, everyone is just a spark to give the rest a fighting chance. " Nick stared down at her. She looked hurt, probably due to the soldiers she lost. He heard that rabbit families can be large, so it wouldn't surprise him, if she had already lost many of her relatives in this war.  
"I get it fluff. It's always up for the living to give the sacrifice of those gone a meaning, to finish the job." He took a deep breath and continued with a smile. "But ever since I was a kid I believed if you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself. I can't die because I'm afraid someone would mess this up. "

Judy didn't feel entirely relieved, but his undisturbed reaction testified that the chance of dying wasn't something he wasn't aware about.  
"I promise I'm aiming to keep everyone alive, Nick, including your team. I just hope if it comes to it that the situation calls for sacrifices, you and your team can handle it."  
"They can." He turned toward the bridge again. "That's why I'm here, to make sure we don't end up in such a situation. "  
He looked around for any other ways to cross the river. The river bank wasn't too steep luckily, which left them with at least the option to sent the LAVs to the other side, since they were amphibious. But he was sure, the rabbit beside him would never agree to send in those two teams alone to the other side, it would be suicide. They had to come up with something more. Was this really the last bridge?

* * *

Despite her disliking the idea of playing babysitter over the rest of the team while Nick was away with the rabbit officer, Skye was happy to notice that the boys got quite friendly with most of the rabbits. They were sitting on and around one of the yellow light armored vehicles, talking and eating. They set up camp in the middle of the forest, amongst the trees just a little bit away from the road, not too far to not see it, but far enough to stay unnoticeable for someone passing by. So hopefully the noises of their chit-chatter and laughs won't drag any unwanted attention.

She decided to make a quick engine checkup while they were waiting for the return of their leaders. The car did make some weird rhythmic noise on their way here, and she was sure of it, that it had something to do with one of the belts getting loose.  
"That's some very nifty craftsmanship, Mrs..." She heard someone approach  
"Just Skye will do fine!" Looking to the side from the engine bay, a rabbit offered her his paw for a shake.  
"Private Franklin! Engineer! I've never seen a fox tank before! What do you call this model?" The male said with curiosity sparkling in his eyes.  
"Oh, it's not actually a fox tank, it's something that I put together myself last week! You see, I took a PACK '312 Pick-up truck and…" she gasped quickly as she started her explanation but was quickly cut off by a sharp laughter which came from Finnick who sat on top of one of the Rabbit tanks.  
"Now you've done it, she loves talking about her works! But to be fair, the VUK is one that I really like!"  
"Erm, it's actually V.U.C. It stands for Vulpine Utility Car." Skye corrected him while nodding at the buck under her nose.  
"It should be pronounced VUK, It's not a soft C, it's a hard one! Do you like it soft or hard, Cotton tail?" He asked the female rabbit that emerged from the turret of the tank next to him.  
Donna just rolled her eyes and turned her back on the small fox.  
"Wait, wait, wait… You've built it yourself? That's pretty awesome! "

"You are missing the important part Franklin. " A crème furred rabbit stepped closer to join the conversation " She built it a week ago. Is this thing even tested? Have you guys ever been in a battle before? "  
"Well, we have run some tests on it, so I'm pretty confident in that it can do what it needs to do…" She replied while rubbing her neck nervously.  
"Don't be rude Boyd, they are here to help! "  
"We need to know how much battle experience they got. Well? " He asked again, while looking back at Finnick who just rolled his eyes in annoyance.  
"No" she finally replied. "We only became mercenaries to fight in this war. "  
"R-really? " Boyd asked in confusion and looked back at the small fox, who just raised his paws in refusal to answer the question.  
"The rabbit we arrived with is my close friend, we worked together in Zootopia and… when he told me he will come home to help his people… " she stood there silently for a few moments, not sure how exactly to put her feelings into words.  
"Great! A bunch of civilians with a house made tank…" Boyd grunted.

"How long have you been in the military, though boy?" Finn shouted down from the top of rabbit tank. "As I heard, the rabbit nation didn't fight in many wars until the last two weeks! I'm really curious what more battle experience you have that I didn't collect on the streets! "  
Boyd ignored the crème furred fox as he considered it just dumb provocation. He decided he needed a walk to think and left for patrolling without another word. Franklin however showed more interest in the conversation with the vixen next to him.  
"Oh, I see! You couldn't just sit home and wait for him to come back, so you came to fight too! He must be really close to you. " He commented on which Skye just happily wagged her tail and smiled.  
"So you decided to build a tank and offer your help to the rabbit army? "  
"Kinda, Jack tried to talk me out at first of course, but when he saw he couldn't stop me, he used his connections to get us some equipment! " She then pointed up to the cannon of the VUK.  
"That doesn't look like any cannon I've ever seen, what tank did he scrape it from?" Franklin tilted his head in confusion.  
"It was a semi-automatic assault rifle made for elephant. I took it apart and fitted it on the back of the truck! "

Franklin was left speechless. He was quite astonished by the ingenuity the vixen presented with her craftsmanship and the dedication she must've had to come into a war for the sake of a friend… or love. He didn't want them to think he is nosey so he just looked up on the small crème furred todd for his next question instead of asking too much from Skye.  
"And what about you guys? You have friends or family in Carrotland too? "  
Finnick shook his head in rejection, while Gideon just rubbed his neck nervously. The two foxes glanced at each other and after a while the little fox grunted in annoyance.  
"Since Cubby doesn't want to answer… Nick and Skye came begging for my help to be their driver, an' since I practically changed their diapers since they were little kits, I felt obliged to help. "  
"Come on you are not THAT much older than us! " came Nick's voice as he and Judy emerged from behind the tank. " And 'begging' is a biiig exaggeration. "  
Judy gave a paw signal on which all rabbits came closer to her and Nick, an example the foxes quickly followed.  
"I assume you got us a way through that river without being seen? " Finnick asked as he slid down on the front of the rabbit tank.  
Judy and Nick exchanged a quick confirming look at each other, as she took a deep breath to explain their plans.  
"Not exactly… "

* * *

Two pig soldiers patrolling the bridge swiftly put out their cigarettes as they noticed their superior officer approaching.  
"LONG LIVE IRON TUSK! " they exclaimed while raising their fists to the sky which gesture the officer returned.  
"Anything to report tonight? " he asked before he leaned over to the fence and spitted into the river below.  
"Nothing, Lieutenant! Everything is calm as usual. "  
"Why do we even need to guard this bridge? The rabbits are too busy running from our frontlines. " the two pigs laughed hard with occasional grunting, but they smiles froze down when they noticed the cold stare of their officer.  
"This bridge is essential to have a quick supply route to the south side of the rabbit capital. If I were a rabbit I would try to attack here!"  
"*Oink* You are worried for nothing sir!" one of the pigs said nervously, and the other was quick to follow.  
"Yes, yes! If it was so important, why would Colonel Fatclaw only order one armored platoon to protect it?"  
He just grunted as he turned around to walk back to his commanding centre that they build up in one of the abandoned rabbit houses. He knew the answer. It was to impress HER. That's why the Colonel commits all his troops to the blockade and building outposts beyond the front line. It's an idea he understood too well. If the rabbits do try to attack, it would make a quite heroic story that a single platoon held them off. Maybe heroic enough to make the Major-General take notice of it.

He was only a few steps away from the end of the bridge when a big burst of wind and deafening rumble of an explosion knocked him off his hooves. He rolled around just as some of his soldiers in the houses sounded the alarms. As his eyes regained focus, he saw smoke in the middle of the bridge, where the two soldiers were standing a moment ago. Before he could say anything, a second explosion shook the earth and the bridge was momentarily engulfed in a fireball.

"Sir! What is going on? " the commander of one of the pig tanks shouted down as his Lieutenant ran towards him.  
"It's just as I predicted! The rabbits are trying to take out the bridge to cut off the supplies to the blockade! " he answered before another explosion cracked in the distance.  
This was his chance! He had to prevent the destruction of the bridge at all cost. The rabbits couldn't have snuck trough the front lines in large numbers. He expected two probably three tanks. That notion of his was also confirmed by the time between each shell that hit the bridge. It was only a single artillery unit somewhere in the nearby mountains, that managed the slip through the Colonel's defenses. He scouted the area with his eyes for any sighs of a tank firing it's gun. Only a few milliseconds before an explosion, but he could see the general direction where the shots were coming from. It was close but just out of range. The pig tanks needed to get across to fight them.

"You! Take the 4 Pigbull tanks and take out that Mobile artillery unit as quickly as possible! Don't let it escape! "  
The engines started up with great ruble and the tracks cut into the mud as the tanks quickly took aim towards the bridge.  
One of them took a hit by a shell that was obviously meant for the bridge, and it was forced to stop mid-way, but the other 3 tanks entered the forest on the other side unscathed.  
"Sergeant! Start up my commanding L-A-V, and bring it here, we have to provide cover to the repairs for that tank. "  
He kneeled down behind a big pile of sandbags and tried to get a glimpse of what was happening on the other side of the bridge with his binoculars. After a little while the firing at the bridge stopped, and a repair crew could run up to inspect the damaged tank. He suspected that the rabbits ordered a 'fall back' after noticing the pig tanks closing in on them.  
"I go call the Colonel, if they left their current position, it will be hard to search for them with only 4 tanks. " He said as he handed his equipment to his Sergeant, and stood up to walk to his armored vehicle.  
However, he was forced back behind the sandbags by the loud noise of heavy machinegun fire coming behind one of the houses. It was two rabbit combat vehicle that promptly riddled his commanding LAV till it went up in flames. His mind froze down he could not understand how did these two rabbit tanks get behind them.

"LIEUTENANT GRUNTNER! " a fearful squeal called out from the bridge, where two rabbit light tanks a commanding car and some unknown fourth vehicle came out from the tree line near the river and were quickly on route to cross the bridge.  
They played him like a fiddle. That's all he could think of as he saw how the two rabbit tank drove around the broken down pig tank in the middle of the road, while the repair crew jumped into the river. He noticed that the rabbits threw some bags under the pig tank while they passed it. As soon as he regained his self-control, he threw himself onto the ground, behind the sandbags, trying to avoid the sight of the rabbit tanks rolling up on the street. He grabbed a radio to call the units that went into the forest.  
"They are here! The artillery fire was a distraction! Return here right now!"  
After a series of confused responses from the 3 pig tanks, the officer looked as the strange orange vehicle turned around at the end of the bridge. It deployed stabilizers to the ground and pointed its cannon to the Pigbull on the bridge. The strange looking tank then fired, and fired again and again, a lot faster than any tank he has ever seen at least five times, until a huge explosion encased the bridge.  
The damage, probably from both the tank fire and the bags the rabbits threw on it crippled the bridge and with loud crackling and metallic friction noise it collapsed under its own and the wreckage's weight.

He was shaking in fear as he heard the rabbit tanks roll around in the street just on the other side of the sandbags that hid him and his Sergeant. His Sergeant… Who just took out a rocket launcher from the nearby ammo supply, and slowly rose to fire it.  
"No you idiot! Don't give out our position! " He tried to say it without raising his voice too much, but it was too late.  
A rocket fired and hit one of the rabbit tanks on the side, but didn't do enough damage to actually disable it. Within the next moment, before any of them could say anything, the burning sandbags of the little fortification flew into every direction, hitting the walls and roofs of the nearby buildings.  
"Alright, I think that's the last of them! " Judy said in her radio to the team. " Let's clear out, before those tanks find their way back to the bridge and see that we crossed. If we are lucky, they will think that we just destroyed it and returned to base and won't look for us on this side! "  
"Told you this will work, fluff! "  
"That's Lieutenant for you, Wilde. "


End file.
